Parrallel Intersections
by DarthImperious
Summary: A brief vignette taking place right after Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country


8

**Parallel Intersections**

_Captains Log Stardate 9532.3- _"_We are three days out from the Klingon outpost Camp Khitomer, where the ship suffered extensive damage during the battle against the Klingon Bird-of-Prey prototype. I am happy to say that so far the peace process is doing well. Mr. Spock is confident that from these small steps, one day the Federation, Klingon's, and Romulan's will be at peace with one another. That is a worthwhile dream and goal. I am just not sure when it will happen?"_

Kirk turned his chair towards Spock and asked "Report, this region is of space is known to be somewhat unstable at times; and I don't want to be caught by surprise."

Spock replied "Sensors show nothing unusual at this time. All appears to be quiet; we are well away from the plasma fields that make this sector unique. In addition, the plasma fields are also relatively calm. There are no major plasma storms occurring at this point; there is not even an ion storm in sensor range."

Kirk smiled and asked when they would be clear of the sector. With typical Vulcan efficiency and exactitude, Spock said that they would clear the sector in 2.3 hours. Kirk once again smiled, and then wondered what he would ever do if Spock were not at his side. He did not like the thought, he liked even less that this would be the last voyage of the Enterprise-A. She was less than a decade old, still just really getting broke-in good as far as ships go. But Starfleet had opted to decommission her anyway. Kirk knew that other starships would bear her name with pride and honor, but this ship was going away before her time. Being pushed aside for something new and supposedly better.

Either way, Kirk knew that he would not be in command of the new Enterprise. Perhaps though, Starfleet would let him send her and her new crew on their way. One could always dream. As Mr. Spock was fond of saying-There are always possibilities; Kirk sure hoped that was the case. Just then it seemed like every alarm on the ship was going off.

Kirk shouted, "Report!"

Spock replied, "An unknown type of inversion field has just appeared less than 100 meters in front of the ship."

Kirk commanded, "Raise shields to maximum and brace for impact." For a moment it seemed as if the universe rippled. In the next moment, two other starships of an unknown type appeared on the forward view screen; followed by a blinding series of explosions. Kirk then ordered, "All stop." And then he turned to Spock and said, "I thought that you said that everything was clear and normal. First some _thing_ pops up in front of the ship. And then two strange looking ships appear from out of no where and they are slugging it out with each other."

Spock replied, "Captain, it would appear that we have passed through some sort of quantum inversion field. In other words captain, we have passed into another universe. One that is similar to ours, but that is different in key aspects." At that moment, the ship rocked with an explosion. "Sir, it would appear that we are being targeted by one of the ships. It was a beam weapon of some sort, but it was not a phaser. There is no indication of either rapid or slow nadions in the beam. At this point shields are at approximately 80% power, and the beam is about 50% more powerful than our own phasers."

With that information, Kirk turned to Uhura, "Uhura. Open a channel to the ship that is firing on us."

"Channel open sir."

"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Federation Starship Enterprise. We are not taking sides in your battle. We are not sure how we came to be here, or how we can get home." Then to his surprise, the man who had spent his career facing down Klingons, outwitting Romulans, engaged in hand to hand combat with a Gorn; sat face to face with a human who appeared to be in his 50's as his opponent.

"This is General Roger Grant of the Interstellar Imperium, in command of the ISS Crusade. You will surrender your vessel to me immediately, it is being impounded for inspection and trespassing in Imperium space."

Kirk couldn't believe the audacity of the man sitting before him, the Enterprise being impounded for trespassing. So he replied, "Sir, like I said before, our trespassing was entirely accidental and beyond our control. Surely we can have a little lee way in the matter."

Grant looked at Kirk and smiled, "You don't understand, in this part of space my word is law. Your ship will be impounded, so surrender your vessel or face the consequences."

Kirk signaled for the communication to be cut off. He then asked Spock for a tactical analysis of the vessel.

"Captain, the Crusade is approximately 300 meters long, 50 meters wide and as for the height, as you can see she has a main body with a tower on the top about midway on the ship. The main body is about 40 meters in height. She most closely resembles a WWII battleship. She also carries nine forward beam weapons and six forward torpedo tubes; in addition too six aft beam weapons, all of which are at least 50% stronger than our own phasers. And judging from the readings that we have been able to take during the weapons exchange between her and the unknown ship, she has shield strength about 35% greater than the Enterprise. To put it simply she outguns us nearly two to one, and has a greater shielding capacity, and her engine capacity from what I can tell is nearly 70% greater than ours."

With that last bit of information, Kirk sighed; the Enterprise was probably a little bit more maneuverable, but from the sound of it, he would not be able to out fight or out run his opponent. And negotiation had failed at this point; the only other option available at this point was to try and see if the unknown ship would assist in the matter. At that point the ship rocked again, and Kirk looked up from his brief reverie, "What happened Spock, is the Crusade firing on us again?"

"Negative Captain, the unknown ship passed by and fired upon us, but the strange thing is that her weapons fire was only at half strength, she then began to re-engage the Crusade." Just then the intruder alert went off. "Captain, we have an unauthorized beam-in on deck three, it originated from the unknown ship. The intruder is in the turbolift heading for the bridge."

Just then the turbolift doors opened up to reveal another human, he stepped out of lift and looked to Kirk and said, "Captain, I am Lieutenant-Commander Peterson second in command of the USS Unification. I send to you the greetings of my captain, John Randal as well as the greetings of the General of the combined forces of the United Humanity, Peter Grant."

Kirk looked at the young man standing before him in disbelief, he quickly recovered and then asked, "You said Peter Grant, would he by any chance be related too Roger Grant on the Crusade?"

"Actually Captain, he is Roger's son. But explanations of that sort will need to wait for later. Let me apologize for the Unification firing on your vessel, but time was short and we needed to open a micro-hole in your shields long enough for me to beam aboard; and at the same time not let Roger know what was happening. Thus we fired at half strength to open that micro-hole and disguise the transport."

Kirk then asked, "I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but will the Unification be able to handle the Crusade."

"Well sir, I don't want to be boastful, but the Unification is the best ship in the fleet, and she has one of the best captains to ever come out of the academy, and General Grant is no slouch at battle tactics himself. The two together, I almost feel sorry for General Roger Grant."

"Spock, what is your tactical analysis of the Unification?"

Spock replied, "Tactically the Unification has equal weapons load out and output to the Crusade, my guess is that she is slightly slower at warp speeds, but only negligibly so. And her shield grid is of a greater capacity than the Crusade. Maneuverability is comparable to the Crusade, and judging by the readings, marginally less than ours. The two ships are almost totally equal to one another in most major categories, so much so that the outcome of the battle will be decided by the better commander and by the indefinable quality known as luck."

About that time Commander Randal took a close look at Mr. Spock and commented, "You are not from around here at all are you? In fact, I don't want to be rude, but I am not familiar with your species at all. And I am somewhat familiar with most of the local species. I have to be, the general is in the process of negotiating an alliance between United Humanity and the friendly species in the area. But I do digress, I was sent here to make contact surreptitiously and ask you to sit out this battle for now."

Just then, the Enterprise was rocked far more violently than before, a small emblem in the shape of an eight point star on the left hand side of Randal's uniform beeped, and Kirk heard a disembodied voice come from the emblem saying. "Randal, this is your captain, we will not be able to protect the Enterprise sufficiently and at the same time fight the Crusade effectively, please ask them to withdraw to a safe distance."

When Kirk heard that, he decided that he had sat around here long enough. He may have only been a visitor to this universe, but he would take an active part in his own defense. Besides, he had tried diplomacy and discussion, which was promptly and totally rejected by Roger Grant. So he did the only thing that he could have done, "Uhura, open a channel to the Unification."

"Channel open sir", was her reply.

"This is Captain Kirk of the Federation Starship Enterprise, we will not withdraw to a safe distance, rather we will take an active part in defending ourselves against the unwarranted aggression on the part of the Interstellar Imperium." With that he motioned for the communication to be cut, and then ordered, "All hands battle stations. Mr. Scott I will need full power to weapons and the shields. Conn, set a course for the Crusade."

A few minutes later, Mr. Spock called out, "Sir we are in effective firing range for torpedoes."

At that Kirk ordered a full spread of torpedoes to be targeted and fired at the Crusade. They shot out from Enterprise's forward tubes and streaked like glowing gnats against the shields of the Crusade. The effect was anything but a sting of a gnat; the Crusade visibly shook under the pounding. Kirk then ordered for phasers to be fired on the same location as the torpedo impact. The Enterprise flew by, trading blow for blow with the Crusade, both ships rocking from the weapon impacts. Between the battle damage that she already had suffered from, in addition to the combined pounding from the Enterprise and Unification, the Crusade was forced to withdraw from the battle before she suffered more serious damage.

As the Crusade was leaving, Uhura said, "Captain, we are receiving a hail from the Unification."

"Put it on." Kirk said, as he was turning to the main viewer, the image of a man who appeared to be no more than about 35 years of age showed up, who showed a striking resemblance to Roger Grant.

"Captain Kirk, so nice to finally talk to you face to face. My name is Peter Grant; you have already met my father unfortunately. I don't blame you for deciding to take part in the battle against the Crusade, I am not one to stand around and wait for things to happen either. I only wish that our meeting could be under better circumstances. I have to admit that I am not familiar with the design of your vessel, nor have I ever heard of any Federation. And as far as I know of, there are no other human factions, is there?"

Kirk replied, "No other factions, we represent the United Federation of Planets. An organization representing approximately 100 member worlds, of many different species, allied together for mutual benefit and defense. Earth is just a small part of the Federation. My first officer here is a Vulcan by the name of Mr. Spock. We actually come from another quantum universe. We somehow passed through a quantum inversion field, and ended up here."

Peter shook his head yes. "That explains the strange readings that we were getting just before you appeared. A plasma storm and an ion storm had formed in close proximity to one another and probably weakened the subspace boundary layer between the two universes, couple that with a volley of torpedoes fired and detonated in the region as well, and you would probably get something like what you just described."

"That is all well and good, but the question now is how do me and my crew get back home?"

"I suggest that we combine our data, and let our science officer's work on the matter. Though if it were my guess, the boundary layer will be repairing itself with each passing moment. So we will need to hurry. Perhaps I can come aboard and we can discuss this in greater depth, while we wait on the report from our science officer's."

Kirk replied, "I would be glad to have you aboard and provide you with a tour of the Enterprise, and perhaps afterwards I can tour your vessel, it is certainly different from the Enterprise, and I would be glad to take a look."

Later, in one of the conference lounges on board the Enterprise, Kirk and Peter were discussing with one another the political climate of the other universe.

Peter said, "You were saying that your Federation was for mutual benefit and defense; I am attempting to organize something similar. There are a few friendly alien races in the region, and just as many that are not very friendly. In fact those that are not friendly are basically fighting a free for all against everybody that crosses their paths. So I figured the best way to deal with that is to ally ourselves with those that have suffered from the same problem, and work together for mutual benefit and defense. In my opinion, we would be stronger together than apart."

Kirk couldn't help but remember that was the same thinking at the formation of the Federation. So he said, "In our history, about 130 years ago, humans had expanded out and in the process of exploring, ran across a race known as Romulans. The Romulans were very expansionist oriented, and eventually a full-blown war erupted between the two. After the Romulans were defeated, Earth approached her various friends during the war, who had provided varying degrees of aid and proposed the formation of the United Federation of Planets, and after nearly a year of diplomatic work, it was finally agreed upon. At that point, there were only a handful of races that joined, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellerites, in addition to humans. But since then, a hundred other races have joined us. There has never been anything like it in the history of our galaxy, and I am personally proud to be a part of it."

Peter Grant replied, "Thanks, just knowing that something like that has happened before brings hope that it can happen again. Your Federation sounds like a really great idea and institution. I only hope that what I am working on will be able to aspire to and reach such high goals. It also lets me know that I have a lot of work left, before my alliance can truly begin to take shape; and act as a force for good. As well as the betterment of all of its members."

Kirk smiled and knew then that this particular universe would be in good shape and he was glad for the inhabitants of it. Just then Mr. Spock came in to give his report.

"The analysis has been completed, and we can still get home. We have already run several scans and have located a weak spot in the subspace fabric. We are relatively certain that if the Enterprise produces a static warp shell, and the Unification fires a volley of 15 torpedoes, tuned to the appropriate subspace frequency."

Just then Peter broke in, "And what Mr. Spock is the appropriate frequency?"

"The torpedoes will need to be programmed to a subspace resonance frequency of 2.5GHz. The torpedoes will also need to be programmed to go off in a specific staggered explosive pattern, at a specific location. There is one final thing, we will need to be in position and everything will need to be ready and completed within two standard hours."

Peter looked at Kirk and said, "Looks like the tour of the Unification will have to wait, unfortunately. Looks like we will need to get right to work on all the preparations, to get you back home. I really do want to thank you for your hospitality while I have been aboard, and wish that we had the time to reciprocate it."

1.5 hours later

_Captains Log Stardate 9533.1-"We have been in the alternate universe for nearly a day, and are in the midst of preparing for our departure. Hopefully all will work out for the best and we will be well on our way back home. I have to admit that the visit here as been pretty enjoyable, but I am looking forward to getting back home and back to my own universe." _

With that Kirk shut off his log recorder, and turned to Mr. Spock. "Spock how much longer until we will be ready for departure?"

Spock turned and said, "We will be ready to implement the static warp shell in five minutes. The Unification is already in position and ready to fire the torpedoes at the proper resonance frequency and with the proper explosive pattern. Once the warp shell has been initiated, she will fire her torpedoes in order to open up the subspace inversion field. Once the field has opened, we will need to proceed towards it at Impulse power."

Uhura said, "Captain, we are being hailed by the Unification."

"Put it on Uhura. General Grant, how nice to see you once more. I want to think you for all of your help during our stay."

"That is no problem Captain, I wish that we could have had more time to get to know each other. I wish you many long voyages, and may the wind always be at your back. Grant out."

"Spock, raise shields and start the warp shell, and prepare to engage impulse engines on my mark."

"Aye Captain, warp shell has been initiated. The Unification is firing the torpedoes. The first torpedoes are detonating in the proper sequence. An inversion field is beginning to form 200 meters dead ahead of the ship; the readings precisely match those of the original inversion field. The final torpedo has detonated, the subspace inversion field has opened up, we are ready to proceed."

"Full Impulse power, dead ahead. I have a feeling that our home awaits us on the other side."

With that the Enterprise sailed past the Unification and into the subspace inversion field, to disappear forever from one universe, and to reappear in her universe none the worse for wear.

"Captain, we have successfully passed through the inversion field; and from the preliminary readings, we have successfully arrived home one day after our departure, same location that we have left from. The operation was a success."

"Sir, we are receiving a hail from Starfleet Command, asking us where we are and if we require any assistance. We had missed our last communications check-in. And they were getting ready to send a search team to find us. What should I tell them sir?" Uhura asked.

"Mr. Scott, how are the warp engines? Can we proceed on our way back to Earth?" Kirk asked his chief engineer.

Scott replied, "Aye sir, the lass, she is none the worse for wear. Warp drive is fully operational and awaiting your orders."

"Uhura inform Starfleet Command that we are doing fine, and are proceeding on our way back to Earth, and that everything will be explained in my report." Kirk said. "Helm, lay in a course for Earth, warp factor six. Our home awaits us."

With that, the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-A sailed gracefully by, on her way home after her final mission and a lifetime of adventures.

**The End.**

Sean Clement


End file.
